Brosnahan, Timothy, 1856-1915

Timothy Brosnahan was born in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 8, 1865. He attended private and parochial schools in Washington, DC, and then enrolled at Gonzaga College preparatory school in the same city in September 1869. Three years later, he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus and entered the novitiate at Frederick, Maryland. He attended Woodstock College for his course in philosophy and, in 1879, was sent to Boston College to complete his teaching period and remained there until 1883, when he was transferred to Georgetown. He finally returned to Woodstock to complete his theology training and was ordained in 1887. While teaching at Boston College, Brosnahan helped to establish the college magazine the Stylus.

Brosnahan returned to Boston College as a professor of philosophy in 1892. In 1894, he was chosen as the tenth president of Boston College. One of Brosnahan’s lasting achievements during his time as Boston College president was his essay, "System of Education." This essay appeared as the introduction to Boston College’s annual course catalog during his tenure, and remained part of the catalog for 57 years. In addition, Brosnahan’s essay was taken up and adapted for use by a number of other Jesuit colleges.

Following his departure from Boston College in 1898, Brosnahan came to national prominence in Catholic circles with his response to Harvard University president Charles Eliot’s criticism of Jesuit education, which had been published in The Atlantic Monthly. Brosnahan’s defense of Jesuit education, published in The Sacred Heart Review, was widely admired and sometimes taught in rhetoric classes.

After leaving Boston College, Brosnahan taught at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland; he died in 1915, at the age of fifty-nine, at Georgetown University hospital.